Attorney General Frank Mbeta says the Malawi Government will challenge the “excessive” K300 billion compensation award to the defunct Finance Bank Malawi (FBM).
The government’s chief legal adviser said in an interview yesterday that having reviewed the court order, his conclusion is that it should be challenged before a full bench of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal.
“I believe the award of K300 billion is excessive. I will be filing for review of the award before the full bench of the Supreme Court of Appeal within this week,” said Mbeta.
In the November 4 2026 assessment award, Supreme Court assistant registrar Ibrahim Hussein ordered the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) to pay FBM for revoking its banking licence in 2005.
The bank initially claimed K1.1 trillion.
According to the assessment, K157.5 billion is for loss of business and profit while K138.12 billion is for malfeasance in public office and K150 million for breach of constitutional rights.
In a February 3 2026 judgement, the Supreme Court faulted RBM for revoking the bank’s licence, saying the decision was unconstitutional.
The court then ordered an assessment of the damages, which went in favour of the bank.
During the assessment hearing, the defunct bank’s lawyer Senior Counsel (SC) Mordecai Msisha said the Supreme Court’s order for damages to be assessed, “if any”, did not cast doubt on wrongdoing.
On the other hand, the State argued that the bank deserved nominal damages, not the scale of compensation it required.
But in the assessment ruling, Hussein said the Supreme Court directed that damages, “if any”, be assessed.
The case dates back to May 2005 when Finance Bank challenged RBM’s decision to revoke its banking licence.
The bank reopened on June 6 the same year, but some officers could not return to work due to a restriction order by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The bank then went into voluntary liquidation in January 2006 and in October 2014, the High Court of Malawi Commercial Division awarded RBM K13 million and dismissed FBM’s counterclaim.
However, Finance Bank appealed the case, leading to the February 3 2026 order.
